Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said that “persons with Down syndrome are more than a diagnosis, more than a condition, and certainly more than the limits others may imagine.”

“All of them, like all of us, possess the same inherent dignity and sacred value, intentionally and lovingly imprinted by the Creator from the very first moment of conception,” he added. “Consequently, like everyone else, they hold the same fundamental rights.”

“In many regions of the world, the expansion of the mining industry has generated profound social tensions and severe environmental impacts,” Cardinal Fabio Baggio, C.S., said at a press conference on March 20.

“We know that minerals are essential for numerous aspects of contemporary life,” he added. “However, we also know that, all too often, their extraction has been carried out without listening to local communities, without respecting the rights of indigenous peoples, and without regard for the limits of the ecosystems that sustain life.”

Cardinal Steiner vowed “to give continuity to that dream of Pope Francis to go to the Churches of the Amazonia and to be an ecclesial Church. We want to carry forward that dream of Pope Francis, implementing especially the four dreams he addressed to us in Querida Amazonia,” the 2020 apostolic exhortation on the Amazon.

CEAMA is an ecclesial conference (rather than an episcopal conference), and non-bishops hold significant leadership roles. Accordingly, one of CEAMA’s four new vice presidents is a priest from Peru; one is an indigenous layman from Bolivia; one is a laywoman from Guyana; and one is a religious sister from Cardinal Steiner’s archdiocese.

Father Roberto Pasolini, the Preacher of the Papal Household, devoted his third weekly Lenten sermon to “The Mission: Proclaiming the Gospel to Every Creature” (full text, video).

Speaking in the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament on the occasion of the presentation of a new book on the Pope, Cardinal Parolin listed the traits as “disarmed and disarming peace,” “unity in the Church,” and the Pope’s synodal style of listening.

Commenting on the Church’s unity, Cardinal Parolin said:

In Augustine’s time, it was the Donatists who caused division within the Church, for they considered themselves superior to others—the only ones who had remained faithful to the Gospel.

Today, different reasons drive many to divide the ecclesial body. On one side are those who, in the name of indiscriminate openness, risk compromising Tradition and reducing the Church to the ways of the world; on the other are those who, in the name of Tradition, reject all progress, reviving the image of a besieged fortress that pits the Church against the world.

Following the papal audience, the king and queen met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.

According to a statement from the Holy See Press Office, the parties discussed “a number of current issues concerning the situation in the country and the Church’s mission in society,” as well as “some topics of a regional and international nature, highlighting the importance of constant commitment in support of peace and the reinforcement of the principles and values that underpin international coexistence.”

Pope Leo is scheduled to visit Spain from June 6-12. The nation of 47.3 million is 85% Christian (81% Catholic) and 3% Muslim.

“They live in constant dread, unsure of what life will bring the next day—where to find shelter, what to put on the table for their children, or whether those children will be able to continue attending school,” staff journalist Roberto Paglialonga wrote in his op-ed. “The plight of the displaced in Lebanon is a tragedy beyond all imagination.”